Rock band INXS will perform a special show in Sydney next month - with their late lead singer Michael Hutchence's place taken by Terence Trent D'Arby.

Kirk Pengilly, Garry Beers, and brothers Jon, Tim and Andrew Farriss have only performed once together since Hutchence committed suicide in November 1997.

The special performance will mark the official opening of the new Olympic stadium in Sydney.

Tim Farriss said INXS and D'Arby were mutual friends, and the band had been impressed by him after seeing him perform in Los Angeles.

He added other singers had offered to replace Hutchence.

"This is an INXS show and Terence is merely lending us his vocal chords. Through a tragedy this is an opportunity to work with a lot of different singers," he said.

Terence Trent D'Arby's first album: The Hardline According To...

D'Arby, 37, hit fame in 1987 with his album Introducing The Hardline According To... But he was dropped by Sony after the relative failure of his album Vibrator in 1995.

He is now signed to Los Angeles label Java Records, set up by Alanis Morrisette's co-writer, Glen Ballard. He is planning a new album, The Solar Return Of Terence Trent D'Arby - Confessions of a Paranoise Schizophrenic, for release in September. He also now uses the name Sananda.

A message on his Website denying earlier rumours he was to replace Hutchence reads: "No-one can ever take Michael Hutchence's place. I had and retain a vast reservoir of fondness for this sweet soul."

Hutchence killed himself with a cocktail of drugs while suffering from depression over a custody battle involving his lover, British TV presenter Paula Yates.

A solo album he was working on at the time is due to be released this year.